Dr. Sundstrom is the Co-Director of the Women’s Health Research Team (WHRT) and a member of the graduate faculty, University of Charleston, South Carolina. She is on the faculty of the public health major and serves on the public health steering committee. She is also a faculty affiliate in the Women’s and Gender Studies program. Dr. Sundstrom holds an adjunct assistant professor appointment at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and serves as a SmartState faculty associate in the Technology Center to Promote Healthy Lifestyles at the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina (USC). Dr. Sundstrom has professional experience in public relations and continues to consult in strategic health communication. She also serves as an Adjunct Professor for Brown University’s Summer@Brown Program.

Dr. Sundstrom received a Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Maryland, College Park, with a specialization in health communication and public relations. Prior to earning her doctorate, she completed a Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) from Brown University with a specialization in health communication and women’s health, and graduated summa cum laude from Tulane University with a B.A. in political science.

Her research interests include health communication, social marketing, and women’s health. Dr. Sundstrom is a multiple methods researcher, with expertise in survey design methodology and qualitative methods, particularly interviews and focus groups. Her research has been published in top-tier journals, including Contraception, the Journal of Health Communication, Health Communication, the Journal of Social Marketing, and Social Marketing Quarterly, among others. She is the author of Reproductive Justice and Women's Voices: Health Communication across the Lifespan (2015), which offers an in-depth analysis of women’s reproductive health, including contraceptive use dynamics, pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period. She has also authored and co-authored several book chapters, encyclopedia entries, scientific abstracts, and conference papers presented at the International Communication Association (ICA), the American Public Health Association (APHA), the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), the Social Marketing in Public Health Conference, the North American Forum on Family Planning and the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals, among others. Dr. Sundstrom’s public health communication campaigns have received national recognition, including the 2014 multi-media award by the American Public Health Association (APHA).

Dr. Sundstrom advises student research, including Bachelor’s Essays, and SURF Grants, and is always looking for motivated students to join her Women’s Health Research Team. Current research involves web-based surveys and qualitative research to investigate women’s reproductive health.

Dr. Sundstrom is active in the community, serving on the executive committee of Cervical Cancer-Free South Carolina (CCFSC), the board of Charleston County Teen Pregnancy Prevention Council, the community advisory board of MUSC’s EMPOWERR Program Capacity Expansion Project, and the advisory board of the South Carolina Cervical Cancer Awareness Initiative, among others. Dr. Sundstrom is a member of the Lowcountry Phi Beta Kappa Association and the South Carolina Coalition for Healthy Families. She was the 2015 recipient of the South Carolina Coalition for Healthy Families’ Crescent Award for her extraordinary leadership, participation, and contributions to comprehensive reproductive health in South Carolina

Education

Ph.D., Health Communication and Public Relations, University of Maryland, College Park

Marshall, R. J., & Sundstrom, B. (2010). Determining the level of interest in a professional association for social marketing in the United States: results of a national survey. Social Marketing Quarterly, 16 (1), 21-30.